As Donald Trump’s inauguration nears, his longtime Republican critics are planning to throw themselves into outdoor expeditions, news detoxes and day jobs, steeling themselves for the day they have dreaded for months. For them, Friday’s inauguration proceedings will be a capstone to one rough chapter of American political life—and an ominous start to the next one.
“The Trump inauguration is a black day in American history,” said Gabriel Schoenfeld, a former senior adviser to Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign who’s now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. “American history is permanently stained by what he has already said and done. And now, with possession of the immense power of the presidency, worse is to come. I see no point in giving voice to false hope that Donald Trump will do the country an iota of good.”
Schoenfeld isn’t alone in finding Inauguration Day intolerable. Fergus Cullen, the former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party and a longtime party activist who was a vocal critic of Trump during the campaign, said that while he has tried to give the Trump transition a chance, he won’t be tuning in to watch the inauguration ceremony. “I think I’ve watched every single one since I was a child,” Cullen said. “But no, I’m not planning to watch this one. I’m planning to specifically not watch it. It’s just not healthy to be in a state of constant outrage.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member